Raw sugar futures tumbled due to late speculative sales to finish Thursday at a two-week low and the market could test the lower end of its trading band before the weekend, brokers said.
The New York Board of Trade's March raw sugar contract slid 0.26 cent, or by 2.2 percent, to close at 11.53 cents per lb, near the bottom of its 11.52-11.71 band. On a spot basis, it was the lowest close for sugar since November 3 when it ended at 11.31 cents.
May lost 0.21 to 11.69 cents. The rest declined from 0.09 to 0.19 cent. Sugar has been moving in a band for most of the past few sessions between 11 and 12 cents, popping briefly over the 12 cents area before speculative liquidation beat it back. "The sugar market is looking for some fresh impetus," said Steve Platt of Archer Financial Services.
Technicians feel support for the March contract would be at 11.50 and then in layers down to 11 cents. They forecast resistance at 12 and then 12.30 cents.
Volume before the close reached 28,608 lots, from the prior count of 35,234 lots. Call volume amounted to 9,217 lots and puts reached 5,821 lots. Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market jumped 4,975 to 505,266 lots as of November 15. There were no deals in the ethanol market.